Hi everyone, from a Scottish Atheist in the heart of darkness

Hi, from a Scotsman in Bavaria, I'm an artist, father, atheist, occasional writer and terrible singer.

I work as an artist (www.derekbeggs.com if you're interested, if not, sorry for the blatant self promotion) with my lovely wiccan wife and six year old, whatever he will grow up to be, son and live in an idyllic village in the heart of rural Bavaria in the shadow of the Alps.

I've been here six years now, and before that lived in Spain and Scotland where I grew up.

I found Atheist Nexus through Pharyngula, so cheers PZ for that and it is so refreshing to find so many like minded people in one place, cant wait to explore it further.

A wee bit about being an Atheist here in Germany.

A few years ago, the bells rang out and German newspapers proudly proclaimed "Wir sind Papst". (trans: we are pope)

I am, and have always been, a fan of reason over faith and so as an Atheist living in the ÜberCatholic world of Bavaria, the frequency of "those types of discussions" which we all know and love were and still are a daily occurance.

Whilst a constant honing of my meagre debating skills is appreciated, it does wear thin after a while, but I would rather debate constantly than accept for one minute any of the myriad of mind numbingly dogmatic and innane counterarguements which class as justification for Beardy Junior, spooky or any of the other sky fairies.

I think one of the theist's own put it best,

"Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy which faith has" Luther.

The full quote is a lot more vehement, full of scabs and blood and brimstone, but shows the character and nature of the blinded fervancy of feeling here.

With recent events, my pious believing neighbours are less proud of their Pope now and many are now refusing to pay their church tax (yes, in Germany unless you opt out, you have to pay tax to the already tax exempt church of about 1.5% of your wage) in protest.

But despite the difficulties here, it is very beautiful, and there are many wonderful people here not the least my family and son, so I do enjoy myself thoroughly,

Wow, a church tax? I guess that's fair, though . If the churches are getting tax breaks, why not tax the the idiots that support them instead. It beats having 'faith-based' initiatives sponsored with everyone's tax money like we have in this faith-deluded country.

yup,
and it gets better, I ended up having to pay it for my wife one year. When she took some time off to look after our son when he was very small, we naturally assumed that she wouldnt have to pay tax. However, church tax is not like income tax and I became liable for it as her husband. My wife is very much like myself in her non belief and as she was signed up to it at birth by her parents never bothered to de-register.

I offered to pay double the tax to a non religious charity, rather than the church, but naturally they refused.

go figure.

Here is also something to think about... Since the first world war, to date, not one member of the Catholic church has been excommunicated for crimes against humanity, complicity in murder, rape or child molestation. To date, 2 million people describing themselves as Catholic in Germany have been excommunicated for...wait for it...not paying their church tax.